1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to drapery hangers supported on a track, and in particular, to an improved carrier strip for holding drapery carriers prior to and during insertion into a drapery track.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Wheeled drapery carriers and drapery carriers having bearings are well-known for hanging a drapery on a track. Well-known solutions for this problem include those shown in Sloan, U.S. Pat. No. 3,076,222 (issued Feb. 5, 1963); Toder, U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,857 (issued Oct. 28, 1980); and Ko, U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,182 (issued Feb. 20, 2001). The prior art also discloses bearing cages and races such as those shown in Martin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,308 (issued Sep. 20, 1977); and Moller, U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,661 (issued May 12, 1998).
The drapery carrier disclosed in Ko, U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,182, is representative of prior art drapery carriers, and excerpts from the drawings of the Ko patent are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of this specification. As disclosed in the Ko patent and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of this specification, a pulling plate or carrier body 20 is mounted with a first wheel seat 22 and a second wheel seat 24 about which a plurality of ball bearings 26 move in orbit about the wheel axis, entrapped by a confining cap 28. Typical of all prior art drapery carriers, the orbit diameter at which ball bearings 26 orbit within the carrier body of prior art drapery carriers is relatively large, causing prior art drapery carriers to have an undesirably large side-to-side dimension 30, thereby increasing the center-to-center stacking distance of adjacent drapery carriers on a track. In particular, it should be noted that the prior art bearing center-to-center orbit diameter 32, at which the bearings 26 orbit about the common axis of wheels 22, 24, is greater than the first and second outer diameters 34 and 36 defined by the side circumferential wheel surfaces 38 and 40 of first and second wheels 22 and 24, with bearings 26 being substantially outside of the first and second outer diameters 34 and 36. It is therefore desirable to have an improved drapery carrier that permits a smaller center-to-center stacking distance between adjacent drapery carriers on a track than heretofore known, thereby permitting a drapery to open more fully than heretofore possible because of the closer stacking of the drapery carriers when the drapery is withdrawn to the sides of a window.
A preferred prior art drapery carrier is shown in FIGS. 14, 19, and 20 of the drawings, for which Taiwanese application 093201271 entitled “Pulley Element of Curtain” was filed by one of the inventors on Jan. 28, 2004, and which was published and issued on Dec. 1, 2004, fully included herein by reference. This prior art drapery carrier is preferred for use with the improved third embodiment carrier strip of the present invention.
Assembly of a plurality of drapery carriers into a drapery track is a labor-intensive task. It is thus desirable to have an improved method of assembly of a plurality of drapery carriers into a drapery track, and a carrier strip for holding the drapery carriers during shipment prior to assembly on a carrier strip, and which facilitates the assembly of the drapery carriers into the drapery track.
None of these prior art references, either singly or in combination, disclose or suggest the present invention.